We all make mistakes. When we recognize we've made one, we should follow the IPCC example of apologizing/rectifying and moving on.

We should not follow the example of the Ottawa Citizen and Southam News:

“The Ottawa Citizen and Southam News wish to apologize for our apology to Mark Steyn, published October 22nd. In correcting the incorrect statements about Mr. Steyn, published October 15th, we incorrectly published the incorrect correction. We accept and regret that our original regrets were unacceptable, and we apologize to Mr. Steyn for any previous distress caused by our previous apology.” HT: Jay Leno

My grandfather told me, "Ignorance of the law is an excuse, if you are a judge, that's why we have appeals courts." We all make mistakes. Mo Udall ran for President.

"Morris Udall told a joke I've told thousands of times, but I always give him credit. When he ran for president of the United States in 1976 he walked into a barber shop in Manchester, New Hampshire, and said, hi, I'm Morris Udall from Arizona and I'm running for president of the United States, and the barber said, yes, we were just laughing about that this morning."